Uber co-founder launches 'Eco' cryptocurrency

One of Uber’s co-founders has launched a new cryptocurrency to rival Bitcoin.

Garrett Camp, who is also the founder of accelerator/venture fund Expa, announced ‘Eco’ in a whitepaper.

It is intended to be a faster and more energy efficient method of verifying transactions on the blockchain, which could help its adoption into everyday use.

However it will not be fully anonymous, as with Bitcoin, as transactions will only be carried out by verified networks, according to TechCrunch.

Camp said one trillion Eco tokens are to be issued. Fifty per cent are to be given to the first 1bn people who sign up while 20 per cent will go to universities, 10 per cent to advisors, 10 per cent to Camp's strategic partners and 10 per cent to an ‘Eco Foundation’ which will oversee the digital currency.

There will be no initial coin offering to raise funds for the project, with Camp and some of Expa’s partners donating $10 million to back the foundation in the short term.